Young Audiences of Houston Receives $50,000 to Support Local Arts-in-Education

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced that Young Audiences of Houston is one of seven organizations nationwide to receive an arts education collective impact grant through NEA's Art Works grant program. Young Audiences of Houston is recommended for a $50,000 grant to support the Arts Access Initiative, an unprecedented project that will transform the landscape of arts education in Houston and ensure equity of arts access in all of Houston ISD's schools.

The Arts Access Initiative is the result of more than a year of planning, data gathering, and consensus-building among diverse sectors of Houston's communities. In 2013-2014, Young Audiences of Houston led a partnership with the Houston Independent School District, the City of Houston, and arts organizations to establish a Community Arts Team and assess the current landscape of arts education in Houston ISD. This research yielded a data set about Houston's arts education equity (and the positive effects on students who received arts education) that had never before been seen. Not only did the data demonstrate that arts education positively impacted the test scores and behavior data of students involved locally - the research also showed that receiving arts education and live arts experiences from either full-time fine arts specialists, community arts partnerships, or after-school programs was far from equitable across the district. Over the next year, the Arts Access Initiative will continue to build and address some of these equity issues in partnership with local leaders in Houston ISD, the arts community and local agencies.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, "I'm pleased to be able to share the news of our support through Art Works including the award to Young Audiences of Houston. The arts foster value, connection, creativity and innovation for the American people, and these recommended grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives."

To learn more about the Arts Access Initiative, visit: www.artsaccessinitiative.org. Learn more about this year's NEA arts education collective impact grantees here.

About Young Audiences of Houston: Founded in 1956, Young Audiences of Houston is an independent chapter of Young Audiences, Inc., the nation's leading arts-in-education nonprofit organization and first organization to be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Now in its 59th year, Young Audiences of Houston implements nearly 4,300 programs each year with a roster of 152 artists that reaches over 239,720 students and teachers annually at schools, libraries, community centers, and hospitals.

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